


Aim for the knees

by Mierke



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-27
Updated: 2015-02-27
Packaged: 2018-03-15 12:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3447383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mierke/pseuds/Mierke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Season 4 AU. Wesley was Buffy's Watcher from the beginning, and she's about to meet someone new.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aim for the knees

**Author's Note:**

> Written for February Bingo - "Meet & Greet: College dorm"  
> Special thanks go to [](http://mesmerising.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://mesmerising.livejournal.com/)**mesmerising** , who helped me figure out how to apply this prompt to Buffy & Giles.

Buffy had only just set one foot in her room when screaming from down the hall halted her step. She stood still for a moment, trying to figure out whether the trouble was alcohol or demon. Whatever it was, it hadn't set off her senses, so she shrugged and closed the door behind her. 

"Evil afoot?" Willow asked as Buffy set her bag down.

"Nah," she replied. "Pretty sure it's just some college fun. How was the first day of the new semester? Anything exciting happen?"

Willow's face lit up, and Buffy held up a hand.

"Anything non-academia related? Anything little old me can understand?"

For just a moment, Willow's face fell, then she started smiling again.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Apparently professor Roberts retired or something, or maybe just left town? Anyway, professor Giles has taken over for him and he is amazing. He's British, so all the girls in class are paying better attention, and there is something about him. It's not so much that he's familiar, but I still feel like I know him somehow, you know?"

Buffy smiled. 

"Sounds like someone had an instant crush."

"No, it wasn't that," Willow replied. "Girlfriend, remember?"

"Maybe he just reminded you of Wesley," Buffy shrugged. "Don't all English people sound the same?"

Before Willow could answer, another scream tore through the building, this one closer to their dorm room. They exchanged a glance, and Buffy grabbed for her weapons. 

"That didn't sound like your average dorm fight."

As the scuffle outside got louder, they opened the door, coming to an immediate halt as they found someone standing just outside it. 

"You have to leave the building," the man said hurriedly. "This is not a drill. Please evacuate."

Buffy took a short moment to admire him, his physique still showing through his flustered state, his voice calling to some innate part of her. She turned to Willow.

"This him?"

Willow nodded, and Buffy smiled at her.

"I see what you mean."

Before the professor could urge them on a second time to leave the building, a crash came thundering down from the end of the hall. Instinctively Buffy stepped out of the room.

"You go on, evacuate the rest of the building. I'll take care of whatever it is."

The man looked at her incredulously.

"You'll take care of it?" he asked, the mocking clear in his voice even though his tone remained flat. "How?"

Buffy raised her axe.

"Beheading usually does it."

A flash of fear crossed the professor's face, and for a second Buffy was scared she'd made a mistake. She had figured someone who was evacuating a building for a demon attack would have known about the supernatural, and her gut told her that this man could be trusted. She was used to listening to her instincts, but if they had been wrong, this could end very badly.

"Aim for the knees," the man eventually said. "It's where they store their hearts."

Buffy started to thank him, but even before she could vocalize the first sound, the first of the demons entered the hallway where they were standing. The guy obviously had no respect for college buildings. He tore the lights of the ceiling, banged in doors and walls, and his footsteps shook the entire place. 

Buffy put herself between the demon and the professor.

"Hey, Buff!" Willow happily said. "My training lessons are finally paying off."

Buffy could feel the magic rising behind her, and as she turned around she saw a shield shimmering around her friend and the professor. 

"Impressive, Will!" she said. 

"Imminent death," professor Giles interjected. "Can we do something about that, please?"

"Right. Sorry. You go, Will!" Buffy replied, and turned around just in time to find the demon taking a swing at her. Fortunately, its size made it slow, and Buffy could reach its kneecaps easily. Unfortunately, while killing the first one didn't pose much of a challenge, two other demons followed after it. Buffy ducked underneath the legs of the first and hit him in the knees. As he crumbled, the second demon smashed her into a wall. 

She heard a shocked intake of breath, and could only assume it was the professor. She didn't particularly like having an audience for her fights, especially when they made great targets. The demon had turned away from her, and was now walking in the direction of her friends.

"You know," she said conversationally, taking up her axe. "If your main weakness is in the back of your legs, maybe turning away from your enemy isn't the smartest plan."

She swung her weapon and it him in the knees, making him fall just before Willow and the professor. His arm grazed Willow's force field, and Buffy could feel the magical clang of the shield reverberating in her mind. The shield held, and the arm bounced off to fall on the other side of the demon.

"Impressive, Will!" she congratulated her friend, as Willow let the shield down with a sigh of relief. 

"That truly was impressive," the man said, though he looked at Buffy, not Willow. "The Slayer, I presume?"

Again Buffy realized that she should have been wary of this guy, but she just... wasn't.

"That's me," she said, a smile on her face. "Not sure what to do about these demons, though..."

She looked around at the three guys who had refused to go poof and disappear into nothingness.

"I will take care of that," he said.

"You'll take care of it?" Buffy replied, unconsciously mirroring his disbelief from earlier. "How?"

"I used to be a Watcher," the professor said, and _now_ Buffy was wary. She subtly shifted her stance, though apparently not subtly enough because the guy seemed to notice. 

"I left because I didn't approve of their methods," he explained. "They are particularly fond of treating their Slayers like weapons without feelings or desires, though I am glad to see that this fate seems to have passed you by."

"I might have quit the Council," she murmured.

"Good for you," was his only reply, before sticking out his hand. "We haven't been properly introduced, yet. Rupert Giles. Former Watcher, current History professor and occult book collector."

She smiled at him, and took his hand in hers. 

"Buffy Summers," she said. "More than just a Slayer."

"That you are," he smiled. "That you are."


End file.
